Formal Education

In the fall of 2021, I took my first formal visual art class since high school, in black-and-white photography. 

I decided to do this more or less on a whim. I had met the instructor, Neeley Drown, at my monthly photo group. She made a Facebook post saying she had some spaces in her class, and that, for that term only, she was offering it entirely online. That last bit was critical for me, not only for COVID reasons, but because Cabrillo College is a couple of hours' drive away from me. As much as this scary and lonely COVID-infested world has limited our abilities to travel and see people in person, this miserable situation has also opened up opportunities for participating in faraway events from the comfort of our living rooms. 

I was entirely astonished by the amount that I learned. While I had been using an SLR for 30 years, and taken many workshops during that time, I had never before studied photography formally. The difference it made to my art is indescribable. I thought I had learned something about photography in the last 30 years. The class made me feel as if I had never known anything about photography before.

The topic of black-and-white photography was a particularly foundational one. Removing the color from an image reduces it to its essential elements. Black-and-white demonstrates so much more clearly that, as Neeley says, "light is our medium." When we have no color, we see so plainly the contrast, the lights, the darks, and the midtones. 

The most valuable lessons were the ones on Ansel Adams' Zone system. While Adams' system might seem overly technical, there is a real value in recognizing the gradations of lights and darks in a scene. I had been trying on my own to learn to see the world in black-and-white, but Neeley's lessons made the concepts much more comprehensible. The ability to see the tonal contrasts in a scene improves color photography as well.

The experience was also a lot of fun! It was art class! I had all sorts of fun projects to do, discovering new ways of seeing and developing new skills every week. The class focused my attention on my art and helped me grow as an artist. It was a wonderful opportunity to interact with other growing artists and feel like part of a community. Neeley pushed me in new directions, insisting that I try different things... that I, for instance, photograph myself right-side-up! 

I enjoyed the class so much that I am now taking another class, this time in color theory. I look forward to more fun and fascinating learning!